Ten things you need to know about the Winter Olympics on TV

1 It actually got underway last night

Snowboarder Billy Morgan Photo: Getty

The official opening ceremony is this afternoon but the action started yesterday, when Team GB snowboarder Billy Morgan, a 24-year-old former acrobat from Southampton, was one of the first to hit the piste in the Men’s Slopestyle qualifiers – a new event for these Games which sees freestyle snowboarders grinding down rails and doing trick jumps. A Norwegian medal hope has already broken his collarbone in practice, prompting complaints about Sochi’s dangerous slopestyle course and the withdrawal of US star Shaun White due to safety concerns.

Clare Balding will present much of the Winter Olympics coverage Photo: BBC

The BBC have wisely picked Clare Balding to helm their coverage, after she was such a huge hit during London 2012. Balding knows her stuff, adores ice-skating and is always watchable. Her co-anchors are Hazel Irvine, a cult favourite from the BBC’s snooker and golf coverage, plus toothy former triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards. They’re joined by a team of winter sports experts, all with Olympic pedigree of their own - notably 2010 skeleton bobsleigh gold medallist Amy Williams (our lone medal-winner last time, since forced to retire from injury), Ski Sunday host Graham Bell and figure skating royalty Robin Cousins.

3 You won’t miss a thing

This will be the most well-covered Winter Olympics ever. BBC Two is screening 200 hours of action, with six HD live streams on the red button and online to more than triple that coverage to 650 hours. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also copious commentary on Radio 5 Live. Phew.

5 You haven’t seen the last of that trailer

The mighty Charles Dance, aka Tywin Lannister in Game Of Thrones, provides the voice of “Nature” in the hammy trailer for Sochi 2014. It will continue to pop up over the next fortnight and form the backdrop of the Beeb’s graphics.

6 Celebrities will be put to shame

Celebrities on Channel 4's The Jump

Showbiz types recently risked life and limb on Channel 4 reality contest The Jump. Now it’s time for the real deal. Next Saturday, athletes will be leaping up to 140m in the Men’s Large Hill Ski Jump – eight times further than The Jump’s victorious Joe McElderry. Females can now join in the fun too: Tuesday sees the first ever Women’s Ski Jump at the Olympics.

7 Cool Runnings: the sequel

Members of the Jamaica bobsleigh team practise ahead of the Sochi Games Photo: Getty

They first achieved fame by qualifying for Calgary 1988, a feat immortalised in cult comedy Cool Runnings. Now the Jamaican bobsleigh team are back. Coached by a member of that original crew and led by 48-year-old veteran Winston Watts, they raised more than $100,000 in online donations to pay their way to Sochi. The team have even described themselves as "Cool Runnings: The Second Generation". As the film says: “Rise and shine, it’s butt-whippin’ time!”

9 Swapping her Stradivarius for skis

British violinist Vanessa Mae has fulfilled her long-term ambition to qualify for the Winter Olympics Photo: BBC/Rex

As career switches go, concert violinist to Alpine skier isn’t the most common. Yet that’s exactly the move made by megastar Vanessa Mae, who in Sochi will fulfill her childhood dream of competing in the Olympics. She put her music career on hold for a year to train and in a fortnight’s time, will represent Thailand in the giant slalom, using her father’s surname to race as Vanessa Vanakorn. She barely scraped the qualifying time so don’t expect medals but it’s quite the story.

10 What’s next?

The Olympic flame will be extinguished at the Closing Ceremony on 23 February but like London 2012, the action then switches to Channel 4 for the “Paras”. The 11th Paralympic Games are held 7-16 March, with 150 hours of coverage across Channel 4, More4 and online. The BBC is our official Olympic broadcaster for the next six years at least, though, having signed a deal with the International Olympics Committee for exclusive rights to cover Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018 and the 2020 Games. Clare Balding could be busy…